Former
England full-back is backing the Sporting Memories Foundation that helps those with dementia by talking about sport with them
The Six Nations approaches and, with it, the annual riptide of memories. Can it really be 50 years ago this weekend, for example, since Wales beat
Scotland at Murrayfield courtesy of “the greatest conversion since St Paul” by a bushy haired, bearded John Taylor? Or 45 years since JPR Williams’s old-school shoulder charge on the French wing Jean-François Gourdon that helped yield another Welsh grand slam? Unforgettable moments.
They are also the foundation stones upon which today’s tournament rests. It can sometimes be easier to remember Taylor’s finest hour – the highlights of that 1971 game are as evocative as the flanker’s uncanny likeness to Roy Wood out of Wizzard – or JPR’s intervention than the finer points (there weren’t many) of England’s last game against Wales. In this locked-down sporting world, that famous old live album of Max Boyce’s – I Know Cos – I Was There!” – feels even more nostalgic.